Debbie McGee: ‘It was a sad week’ Strictly star gets candid about husband Paul Daniels

Debbie McGee, 60, told her listeners how she celebrated the couple’s wedding anniversary, where she also revealed it was Paul Daniel’s birthday the day before earlier this month. The Strictly Come Dancing finalist said: “This week was a happy and sad week, in that Tuesday would have been my wedding anniversary. And yesterday would have been Paul’s birthday. “But I did things to remember him by. I think that’s the way to go about it.” The couple who tied the knot in 1988 and were married until Paul’s sudden death in 2016 in which he passed away aged 77 following a brain tumour.

The former magician would have celebrated his 80th birthday on April 6 this year.

Debbie said: “And I was just telling Rob, yesterday I did go out to lunch with my family to celebrate Paul’s birthday.

“And then I came home and I spent hours, literally sorting through all the DVD’s of our BBC magic shows, which is 147.”

She continued: “I put them all in chronological order on the shelves in the office.

“From one to 147, which doesn’t sound much but they were all over the place so I had to hunt for them.

“And I had loads of duplicates. But you know – it was really cathartic.”

The former magician’s assistant finished: “I didn’t watch any but just doing something to remember him by. I don’t know, it felt a good thing to do.”

Debbie was a regular fixture on the BBC One show The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which had begun in 1979.

The series continued until 1994, with her former husband Paul’s signature phrase on his TV shows being “The lovely Debbie McGee”.

Meanwhile, the Strictly finalist recently opened up about the possibility of finding love again.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Debbie admitted to feeling “vulnerable” after Paul’s death and insisted she couldn’t think about dating anyone else in the immediate aftermath.

But now, Debbie admitted she feels differently.

She said: “I’ve realised, waiting, that I’m just really finding my feet of who I am as a person.

“I feel that I’m so different now to how I was a month after he died and I’m glad I didn’t rush into a relationship then.”

She added: “I’ll come to a time that I’ll meet someone who’s probably very different to Paul.”

source: express.co.uk